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Ella Wheeler Wilcox
United States | education = | alma_mater = | period = | genre = | subject = | movement = | notableworks = Poems of Passion (1883) | spouse = | partner = | children = | relatives = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | signature = | website = | portaldisp = }} Ella Wheeler Wilcox (November 5, 1850 - October 30, 1919) was an American poet and journalist. Life Overview Her best-known book was Poems of Passion. Her most enduring poem is "Solitude", which contains the lines: "Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone". Her autobiography, The Worlds and I, was published in 1918, a year before her death. Youth and education Ella Wheeler was born in 1850 on a farm in Johnstown, Rock co. (east of Janesville), Wisconsin, the youngest of 4 children. The family soon moved north of Madison, Wisconsin. Ella started writing poetry at a very early age, and was well known as a poet in her own state by the time she graduated from high school. Career Her most famous poem, "Solitude", was published in the February 25, 1883, issue of the New York Sun. The inspiration for the poem came as she was travelling to attend the Governor's inaugural ball in Madison. On her way to the celebration, there was a young woman dressed in black sitting across the aisle from her. The woman was crying. Wheeler sat next to her and sought to comfort her for the rest of the journey. When they arrived, the poet was so depressed that she could barely attend the scheduled festivities. As she looked at her own radiant face in the mirror, she suddenly recalled the sorrowful widow. It was at that moment that she wrote the opening lines of "Solitude": ::Laugh, and the world laughs with you; ::Weep, and you weep alone. She sent the poem to the Sun and received $5 for her effort. It was collected in the book Poems of Passion shortly after in May 1883. In 1884, she married Robert Wilcox of Meriden, Connecticut, where the couple lived before moving to New York City and then to Granite Bay in the Short Beach section of Branford, Connecticut. The 2 homes they built on Long Island Sound, along with several cottages, became known as Bungalow Court, and they would hold gatherings there of literary and artistic friends. "A Celebration of Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Poet, Journalist, and Progressive Thinker," Branford Historical Society They had a child, a son who died shortly after birth. Not long after their marriage, they both became interested in theosophy, new thought, and spiritualism. Early in their married life, Robert and Ella promised each other that whoever went earliest through death would return and communicate with the other. Robert died in 1916, after over 30 years of marriage. She was overcome with grief, which became ever more intense as week after week went without any message from him. It was at this time that she went to California to see the Rosicrucian astrologer, Max Heindel, still seeking help in her sorrow, still unable to understand why she had no word from her Robert. She wrote of this meeting: :In talking with Max Heindel, the leader of the Rosicrucian Philosophy in California, he made very clear to me the effect of intense grief. Mr. Heindel assured me that I would come in touch with the spirit of my husband when I learned to control my sorrow. I replied that it seemed strange to me that an omnipotent God could not send a flash of his light into a suffering soul to bring its conviction when most needed. Did you ever stand beside a clear pool of water, asked Mr. Heindel, and see the trees and skies repeated therein? And did you ever cast a stone into that pool and see it clouded and turmoiled, so it gave no reflection? Yet the skies and trees were waiting above to be reflected when the waters grew calm. So God and your husband's spirit wait to show themselves to you when the turbulence of sorrow is quieted. Several months later, she composed a little mantra or affirmative prayer which she said over and over: "I am the living witness: The dead live: And they speak through us and to us: And I am the voice that gives this glorious truth to the suffering world: I am ready, God: I am ready, Christ: I am ready, Robert."' Wilcox made efforts to teach occult things to the world. Her works, filled with positive thinking, were popular in the New Thought Movement and by 1915 her booklet, What I Know About New Thought had a distribution of 50,000 copies, according to its publisher, Elizabeth Towne. The following statement expresses Wilcox's unique blending of New Thought, Spiritualism, and a Theosophical belief in reincarnation: "As we think, act, and live here today, we build the structures of our homes in spirit realms after we leave earth, and we build karma for future lives, thousands of years to come, on this earth or other planets. Life will assume new dignity, and labor new interest for us, when we come to the knowledge that death is but a continuation of life and labor, in higher planes". Her final words in her autobiography The Worlds and I: "From this mighty storehouse (of God, and the hierarchies of Spiritual Beings ) we may gather wisdom and knowledge, and receive light and power, as we pass through this preparatory room of earth, which is only one of the innumerable mansions in our Father's house. Think on these things". She died of cancer on October 30, 1919. Writing A popular poet rather than a literary poet, in her poems she expresses sentiments of cheer and optimism in plainly written, rhyming verse. Her world view is expressed in the title of her poem "Whatever Is, Is Best", suggesting an echo of Alexander Pope's "Whatever is, is right." "The Man Worth While" opens: :It is easy enough to be pleasant, : When life flows by like a song, :But the man worth while is one who will smile, : When everything goes dead wrong. Her most famous lines open her poem "Solitude": :Laugh and the world laughs with you, : Weep, and you weep alone; :The good old earth must borrow its mirth,''some versions indicate the words are "For the brave old earth must borrow its mirth" or "For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth" : ''But has trouble enough of its own. "The Winds of Fate" is a marvel of economy, far too short to summarize. In full: :One ship drives east and another drives west : With the selfsame winds that blow. :'' 'Tis the set of the sails, :'' And Not the gales, :'' That tell us the way to go. :Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate; : As we voyage along through life, :'' 'Tis the set of a soul :'' That decides its goal, :'' And not the calm or the strife. Wilcox cared about alleviating animal suffering, as can be seen from her poem, "Voice of the Voiceless." It begins:Beers, D. 2006. For the Prevention of Cruelty: The History and Legacy of Animal Rights Activism in the United States. :I am the voice of the voiceless; :Through me the dumb shall speak, :Till the deaf world’s ear be made to hear :The wrongs of the wordless weak. :From street, from cage, and from kennel, :From stable and zoo, the wail :Of my tortured kin proclaims the sin :Of the mighty against the frail. Recognition None of Wilcox's works were included by F.O. Matthiessen in The Oxford Book of American Verse, but Hazel Felleman chose no fewer than 14 of her poems for Best Loved Poems of the American People, while Martin Gardner selected "Solitude" and "The Winds of Fate" for Best Remembered Poems. Her quote "Love lights more fires than hate extinguishes" is inscribed on a paving slab in Jack Kerouac Alley in San Francisco (next to the City Lights Bookstore). The opening stanza of her poem "The Man Worth While" can be found in Disney's Hollywood Studios, in the boiler room portion of the queue for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. In popular culture She is frequently included in anthologies of bad poetry, such as The Stuffed Owl: An anthology of bad verse (1930) and Very Bad Poetry (1997). In his 1922 novel Babbitt, Sinclair Lewis indicated Babbitt's lack of literary sophistication by having him refer to a piece of verse as "one of the classic poems, like 'If' by Kipling, or Ella Wheeler Wilcox's 'The Man Worth While.'" Wilcox's name provided the unlikely inspiration for doggerel by the English humorist Richard Murdoch, which he set to the opening bars of Alexandre Luigini's Ballet égyptien. Her poem "Over the Banisters" was adapted into a song for Judy Garland in the film Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). The opening stanza of "The Man Worth While" is parodied in the movie Caddyshack (1980), when the character Judge Smails (played by Ted Knight) reads the following at the christening of his yacht: "It's easy to grin when your ship comes in / And you've got the stock market beat. / But the man worthwhile is the man who can smile / When his shorts are too tight in the seat." Oliver's Stone movie JFK (1991) starts with a quotation from her: "To sin by silence when we should protest makes cowards out of men". The opening lines in her poem "Solitude" are recited in Park Chan-wook's film Oldboy (2003). Publications Poetry *''Drops of Water: Poems. New York: National Temperance Society, 1872. *Shells. Milwaukee, WI: Hauser & Story, 1873. *Maurine. Milwaukee, WI: Cramer, Akens & Cramer, 1876; **revised as ''Maurine, and other poems. Chicago: James McClurg, 1882; W.B. Conkey, 1888. *''Poems of Passion. Chicago: Belford, Clarke & Co., 1883. *''Poems of Pleasure. New York, Chicago & San Francisco: Belford, Clarke & Co., 1888?; London: Gay and Bird, 1900. *''How Salvator Won, and other recitations. New York: E.S. Werner, 1891. *''An Erring Woman's Love. Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1892. *''Men, Women, and Emotions. Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1893. *The Song of the Sandwich'' (illustrated by Oliver Hereford). New York: George M. Allen, 1893. *''Custer, and other poems. Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1896. *Three Women. Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1897; London: Gay and Bird, 1905. *The Kingdom of Love, and other poems. Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1901; London: Gay and Bird, 1906. *Poems of Power. Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1901. *''The Other Woman's Husband. Thompson & Thomas, 1902. *''Poems of Life''. London: Drane, 1902. *''Poems of Love''. Chicago: M.A. Donoghue, 1905. *''Poems of Reflection''. Chicago: M.A. Donoghue, 1905? *''Poems of Peace''. London: Gay and Bird, 1906. *''Poems of Sentiment. Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1906?; London: Gay and Hancock, 1910. *New Thought Pastels. Holyoke, MA: E. Towne, 1906; London: Gay and Hancock, 1913. *''Selected Poems. London: George Bell & Sons, 1907. *''Poems of Cheer. London: Gay and Hancock, 1908. *Poems of Progress. Albert Whitman, 1909; London: Gay and Hancock, 1913. *''Poems of Progress ''(&) New Thought Pastels''. Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1909?; Toronto; Musson, 1909; London: Gay and Hancock, 1909. *''Poems of Power and Cheer''. London: Gay and Hancock, 1909. *''Poems''. Edinburgh: W.P. Nimmo, Hay, & Mitchell, 1909; London: Gay and Hancock, 1913. *''Poems of Love, Life, and Sentiment''. Melbourne: T.C. Lothian, 1909. *''Poems of Experience. London: Gay and Hancock, 1910. *Yesterdays. London: Gay and Hancock, 1910. *''Poems of Pleasure and Passion. London: Gay and Hancock, 1911. *''The Englishman, and other poems. London: Gay and Hancock, 1912. *''Picked Poems. Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1916. *''Poems of Pleasure and Passion.'' London: Gay and Hancock, 1914. *''Poems of Problems.'' Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1914; London: Gay and Hancock, 1914. *''Poems of Optimism. London: Gay and Hancock, 1915. *Poems of Purpose. London: Gay and Hancock, 1916. *''World Voices. New York: Hearst's International Library, 1916. *''More Poems.'' London: Gay and Hancock, 1916?; Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1919. *''Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Edinburgh: W.P. Nimmo, Hay & Mitchell, 1917. *The Collected Poems of Ella Wheeler Wilcox.'' London: Gay and Hancock, 1917; Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1919; London: L.B. Hill, 1924. *''Sonnets of Sorrow and Triumph.'' New York: George H. Doron, 1918. *''Hello Boys!. London: Gay and Hancock, 1919. *''Cinema Poems, and others. London: Gay and Hancock, 1919. *''Poems of Affection''. London: Gay and Hancock, 1920. *''Poems of Faith''. London: Leopold B. Hill, 1924? *''One Hundred Selected Poems''. London: A. & C. Black, 1929. *''Whichever Is, Is Best: A collection of poems''. Boulder, CO: Blue Mountain Arts, 1975. Plays *''Mizpah: A poetical play in 4 acts, founded on the historical narrative of Esther'' (by Ella W. Wilcox and L. Searelle). New York: Klebold, 1906. *''The New Hawaiian Girl: A play. London: Gay and Hancock, 1910. Novels *Mal Moulee: A novel. New York: G.W. Carleton, 1886; London: S. Low, 1886. ** reprinted as ''Sweet Danger. Chicago: Neely, 1892. *''The Adventures of Miss Volney. New York: J.S. Ogilvie, 1888. *''A Double Life. New York: J.S. Ogilvie, 1891. *''Was It Suicide?'' Chicago: Neely, 1892. * An Ambitious Man. Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1896. *''Roger Merrit's Crime''. Boston: A.B. Courtney, 1897. *''The Diary of a Faithless Husband''. London: Gay and Hancock, 1910. Short fiction *''Perdita and other stories. New York : J.S. Ogilvie & Co., 1886. *''Six Bad Husbands and Six Unhappy Wives. London: Gay and Hancock, 1912. Non-fiction *''Men, Women and Emotions''. Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1893. *''The Heart of the New Thought, Chicago: Psychic Research Company, 1902. *A Woman of the World: Her counsel to other people's sons and daughters. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1904. *The Story of a Literary Career. Holyoke, MA: E. Towne, 1905. *''Sailing Sunny Seas: A story of travel in Jamaica, Honolulu, Haiti, Santo Domingo, Porto Rico, St. Thomas, Dominica, Martinique, Trinidad and the West Indies. Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1909. *''New Thought, Common Sense, and What Life Means to Me''. Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1908; London: Gay and Hancock, 1910. * The Art of Being Alive. New York & London: Harper & Brothers, 1914. * Lest We Forget. East Aurora, NY: Roycroft Shop, 1914. *''World Voices'' (illustrated by William de Leftwich Dodge, Will Foster...and others). New York: Hearst's International Library, 1916. *''The Worlds and I'' (autobiography). New York: George II Doran Company, 1918?; London: Gay and Hancock, 1918 Juvenile *''The Beautiful Land of Nod'' (children's poetry). Chicago: Morrill, Higgins, 1892. Other *''Everyday Thoughts in Prose and Verse.'' Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1901. *''Around the Year with Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1904. *''Blossoms from EWW. Buffalo, NY: Hays, 1910? *''Gems from Ella Wheeler Wilcox''. London: Gay and Hancock, 1910; Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1912? *''Cameos''. Chicago: W.B. Conkey, 1914. *''The Best of Ella Wheeler Wilcox''. London: Arlington Books, 1971. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy the Ella Wheeler Wilcox Society.Richard A. Edwards, An Ella Wheeler Wilcox Bibliography. Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Web, Jan. 1, 2013. See also * List of U.S. poets References * Ifkovic, Edward. Ella Moon: A Novel Based on the Life of Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Oregon, WI: Waubesa Press, 2001. ISBN 1878569724 Fonds *Ella Wheeler Wilcox Papers,Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. Notes External links ;Poems *Wilcox, Ella Wheeler (1850-1919) ("Solitude," "The Little White Hearse") at Representative Poetry Online *6 poems by Wilcox: "A March Snow," "A Holiday," "Summer's Farewell," "The End of the Summer," "The Year," "Father" *Cordula's Web features illustrated poems by Wilcox *Poems by Title index *Ella Wheeler Wilcox at PoemHunter (549 poems) ;Audio / video *Ella Wheeler Wilcox poems at YouTube ;Books * *[An Ella Wheeler Wilcox Bibliography *Ella Wheeler Wilcox at Amazon.com * ;About *Ella Wheeler Wilcox at the Wisconsin Electronic Reader *Ella Wheeler Wilcox at NNDB *Ella Wheeler Wilcox: An advanced soul * ;Etc. *Ella Wheeler Wilcox Society Official website, including biographies, bibliographies and writings Category:1850 births Category:1919 deaths Category:American poets Category:American memoirists Category:New Thought writers Category:People from Janesville, Wisconsin Category:Writers from Wisconsin Category:Cancer deaths in Connecticut Category:People from Rock County, Wisconsin Category:19th-century poets Category:19th-century women writers Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:English-language poets Category:American women writers Category:Poets Category:Women poets Category:Children's poets